As life expectancy increases, chronic diseases are now the biggest cause of death and disability worldwide—including cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes, obesity and chronic respiratory diseases—and account for an estimated 86% of deaths and 77% of the disease burden in the European Region, as measured by disability-adjusted life-years. This development has brought about a fundamental shift in health systems and health care and thus in the roles of patients. The focus on patient self-care practices has grown substantially, and much care and treatment takes place at home, leaving patients and family with greater responsibility for their own health. Patient empowerment is supported by the World Health Organization, but requires that patients are trained to monitor their own health. Patient empowerment has the potential of being very beneficial for society. An expected consequence is the reduction of healthcare costs. The chronic patients self-monitoring their condition at home can reduce their own stress, and avoid unnecessary visits at a medical practice when the disease is under control, thus allowing practitioners to spend more time and resources on acutely ill patients.
A number of monitoring devices exist that allow chronic patients to monitor their condition at home: devices for measuring blood pressure for patients with hypertension, glycaemia monitors for patients with type 2 diabetes, cholesterol monitors, and blood coagulation monitors are some examples. However, with the increasing demand for patient empowerment, more devices are needed to measure a range of additional factors involved in other conditions.